IN THE GARDEN: Clematis rises above the ordinary

Plant a climbing vine like clematis near a shrub for built-in support.

By Thomas MickeyFor The Patriot Ledger

Finding a home for a new plant in the garden sometimes presents a problem.

With a climbing plant like a clematis, you can always plant it below a shrub. Thus the shrub becomes the support for the vine.

Several years ago, I planted a hydrangea quercifolia, or oakleaf, called Semmes Beauty near a perennial garden. This shrub was right in front of a stone wall. Along the wall I had installed a wooden trellis.

At the bottom of the trellis I planted clematis Josephine, which blooms with large lilac base petals of 5 inches with a pom-pom like center of pink lilac.

Because the trellis area had a bit too much shade, this clematis found support in the branches of the near-by Semmes Beauty hydrangea. Thus I see the blooms of the flower in the shrub as well as on the trellis.

In another spot in my garden I planted the short white/pink hydrangea called Let’s Dance, which grows 3 feet high with large, mophead flowers in summer.

Near this hydrangea I planted the clematis Rebecca with its magenta blooms that come in early summer. I attached this vine to a short green metal obelisk, which gives some support.

Along the gray cinder block wall of the corner of the house I planted euonymus fortunei Emerald Gaiety many years ago. That spot has proved to be just right for this evergreen shrub, which likes to climb the wall.

In the ground near the base of a shrub I planted the clematis Prince Charles, a large, light-blue, single flower that blooms in early summer. Over the years this clematis grew into the shrub so it seems as if the shrub itself were blooming.

The perennial grower Song Sparrow Nurseries, which offers more than 65 varieties of clematis in its catalog and online, supplied these three clematis.

Quincy master gardener Thomas Mickey, author of the book “America’s Romance with the English Garden,” is professor emeritus at Bridgewater State University. You may reach him at tmickey@americangardening.net.